


Most Precious Jewel

by forsakenlemon



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cinnamon roll Steven, Divorce, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, cinnamon roll Pearl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9829919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forsakenlemon/pseuds/forsakenlemon
Summary: A husband, an amazing son, and a great job - zoo keeper Rose Quartz-DeMayo should be happy. But her marriage more and more becomes something she isn't at all happy with.She wants to be in a relationship where she can love, and is loved in return.And suddenly she starts thinking about her best friend Pearl a lot...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Uhm... okay this is my first SU fanfic. 
> 
> It's for the girl I have a massive crush on. She requested it and I can't say no to her because she is my Rose and I am her Pearl. (And I also really wanted to write something for Steven Universe!)
> 
> Enough corniness, enjoy the fic!^^

A normal day in the Quartz-DeMayo family always goes the same way.

 

Exactly at 6.45 a.m. Rose's alarm clock went off. She turned it off and got up to prepare breakfast for her men. With 13 years Steven was extremely sleepy and not one to get out of bed easily. Rose needed about twenty minutes averagely.  
After Steven finished his breakfast and got ready for school he left the house and Rose made her way back up to her bedroom to wake her husband. Unlike Rose, Greg was definitely not a morning person, which resulted in a very silent food consumption, only broken by the news reporter on TV. Most of the time she wished it would be different.  
Shortly after 8 a.m. it was time to leave the house and head to work. Riding the train was not as pleasant as going by car, but this way she had time to think and dream a little. Especially in the last few weeks she'd often fantasized about her daily life if things would have been different. Of course she loved her son more than anything and she would never ever change that part of her life. But her relationship with Greg lacked in areas like love, attention and domesticity. Of course after twelve years of marriage you stopped seeing things through rose-colored glasses, but that didn't mean you couldn't be romantic anymore, right? Exhibit A were were her best friends Sapphire and Ruby - together for 14 years, married for 13, and still as in love as on the first day.

 _Maybe that's what life would have been with Pearl_ , Rose thought while entering through the zoo's employee entrance.  
In the locker room she changed out of her everyday clothes into her working clothes, tied her pink hair into a ponytail and then made her way to the zoo's office. There, Pearl sat at the computer and swiftly typed away on the keyboard.

"Good morning, Pearl", Rose greeted and smiled. Pearl looked up and it seemed like the sun rose on her face.  
"Rose! Good morning, how are you?"  
"I'm fine, how about you?"  
"Me too. Oh, Amethyst called in sick, so I rearranged your and Lapis' schedule for today. She's already with the penguins, by the way", the young secretary explained and handed the zoo keeper a sheet with her schedule.  
"Thank you, I don't know what we'd do without you", Rose said and quickly scanned the sheet. She then walked back to the door, gripped the handle - but then stopped and turned.  
"Are we still on for lunch?"  
"Of course!"  
"Great, I'll pick you up at 1."

 

Rose left the office building and made her way to the first compound on her route of the day. The lions. Her favorit animals. She took two buckets of meat from the storage, entered through the door of the compound and sat down on the grass.  
"Good morning, sweeties! How are you today?"  
As if answering, two lions came trotting over. Amethyst had found it creepy when she first saw it. They lions had never liked a zoo keeper until Rose started this job. With her they acted like pet cats.  
"Hello there, Lana. How are you?", she asked the lioness while she stroked her ears. The female was pregnant with her second litter and Rose knew it wouldn't be very long anymore. She put a large piece of meat in front of of her and the soon-to-be mother devoured it instantly. Rose threw Luminos - the male -, Iba and Scratcher - the young ones - the rest of the meat. Hungry, they lunged at it and Rose couldn't help but laugh at the two siblings playing tug of war with a loin.

 

As much as she loved being with her favorit animals, she had to go on. The zebras were waiting for their food.  
That's how it went. Animals were fed and medicated, compounds were cleaned, Rose and Pearl haf lunch together and then the animals were treated again.  
In the late afternoon Rose's shift was over. She changed back into her everxday clothes, packed her things and took the train back home. Right after entering her home Steven came up to her and excitedly told her about his new project in geography. From the kitchen came the smell of food - albeit not the food she'd expected. 

 

"Greg, what's for dinner?"  
"Nachos with cheese, honey!"  
"Again?", Rose asked incredulously and looked around. Empty chips bags and cheese glasses were scattered across the counter. She hoped that her husband intended to clean this mess up.  
"You can never get enough of nachos with cheese!"  
"Of course, after 4 days you can. I don't mind you eating that much junkfood at the car service but don't do it here. Steven is in puberty and his body needs healthy food! I even bought vegetables and pasta for a casserole, why did you not use them?"  
"It was late when I finished work and I didn't have time, honey."  
"That's tje same excuse you used the last 3 days. In the time you waste running to the supermarket to buy chips and cheese you could preheat the oven and cut the veggies."  
"It's casserole tomorrow, Rose. I promise."  
"Alright", sighed Rose and placed her plate on the table.

 

After dinner Steven got ready for bed and snuggled up in a blanket with a comic. Greg seated himself in front of the TV, completely forgetting to wash the dishes. Rose filled the sink with water and detergent. "Greg, honey, can you help me, please?"  
"What? But Lil'l Butler is on!"  
"Are you serious?"  
"New episodes, Rose! Please!"  
It was quiet for one moment, only the laughing audience could be heard. Rose knew that there would be no use in trying further and surrendered. After she's cleaned up the kitchen she kissed her son good night and proceeded to go to bed herself.

It didn't take long for Mrs. Quartz-DeMayo to fall asleep, knowing that the other side of the bed was empty and cold, because her husband still sat in the living room watching TV.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO incredibly sorry. A lot of things happened to me and the person this fic is dedicated to and I couldn't continue writing. I am very sorry to everyone who waited for this fic to be continued. It will be, now, I promise. Because everything is right again with my precious Rose.

Rose was many things, but not complicated. She was easy to please, easy to motivate, and hard to irritate. So why seemed a marriage with her to be so hard?

“You are so lucky”, she sighed while scratching Lana behind her ears. After finishing her morning routine she had settled with her favorite animals. Lapis did it as well, sneaking back to the penguins if she could, and Amethyst hid with the hippos. Rose often wondered if in other zoos the keepers were allowed to spend their time with the animals like this. She was probably just lucky to have someone like Mrs Diamond as her boss.

“Your marriage is perfect, isn’t it? You protect each other, raise your kids together, and the food is delivered.”

Lana yawned in response. Luminos was lying next to her in the grass, relaxing, his two children on top of him, sleeping.

Rose couldn’t hold back her smile. She remembered a night when Steven had been about three years old. Greg had fallen asleep on the couch with the toddler on top of him, both sleeping like the dead. The young mother had immediately searched for a camera to capture the moment forever.

“Would you adopt me, girl?”, she asked the lioness. Said girl had her eyes closed, enjoying the patting. An adoption would obviously not happen. Too bad.

“Rose?”, a voice called behind her. The woman turned and saw Pearl standing behind the bars of the cage.

“Pearl, what are you doing here?”

“Well, it’s already quarter past one and usually you pick me up at one exactly so I was a bit worried but I now see that you’re fine… Uhm, if you’d rather stay here for your break it’s not a problem, I’ll just go back to the office.”   
“No!”, Rose almost screamed and stood up abruptly to Lana’s dismay. “No, I just spaced out and lost track of time.”

She made her way out of the compound and locked the doors.

“Rose, it’s really okay if we don’t have lunch together everyday. I understand.”

“No, I love to spend my lunch break with you. Let’s go, okay?”

With a shy smile Pearl nodded and followed the attendant to the staff entry to leave the zoo.

 

On the other side of the street a small, nice restaurant called  _ Gem Palace _ could be found. Pearl and Rose usually spent their breaks there, except when they craved Asian food and went to their favorite Vietnamese place. Gem Place was something special to them, though, because it was run by their friends Ruby and Sapphire, which lead to them only paying half the price for their dishes.

The two zoo employees sat down at their regular table - a cozy little table for two near the window in a quiet corner - and thought about what to get that day.

A few minutes later Sapphire came up to them to greet them und get their order. Rose chose a casserole while Pearl settled for a salad. Their friend nodded and vanished back to the kitchen. She probably would have liked to talk to them for a bit but the restaurant was full and there was no time.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Pearl suddenly asked, successfully bringing Rose out of her stupor. 

“Excuse me?”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Something is bothering you.”

“No, everything is fine.” Rose tried to smile as convincing as humanly possible, but Pearl’s face told her that it was useless. She sighed. Pearl and her had been friends since high school, so Rose was an open book for her, and the other way around. 

“It’s Greg…”

Pearl’s worried look fell for a second before coming back up. Rose knew that her marriage was a delicate subject for her friend. Pearl was crushing on her since their school days without the older woman knowing. Rose had once felt similar, but before she could act on it Greg came into the picture and she had been so blinded by her love for him that she had forgotten about her best friend. She regretted it, still.

“What about him?”, Pearl asked and once again brought Rose back to reality.

“I think he’s taken me for granted.”

“Why would you think that?”

Before Rose could think better of it all of her worries suddenly came bubbling out of her like a dam breaking.

“It’s always me who’s job it is to wake everyone up. And don’t get me wrong, that wouldn’t be too bad if Greg didn’t always fight it so much. Sometimes he just goes back to sleep and is late for work and then he blames  _ me _ for it! Also, dinner! When I come home later than him I always get ingredients a few days beforehand so that he can make dinner for Steven and himself. I get vegetables, and noodles, fresh meat, you know, healthy things our son needs for growing up. Now guess what we’ve been eating the whole last week! Nachos and cheese!! All seven days!  _ Seven _ , Pearl! And what does he say when I confront him about it?  _ ‘I had to stay longer at the repair station and didn’t have the time to prepare your food.’ _ The time he spends going to the store buying chips and cheese could be used fir cutting veggies or cooking noodles! But the ultimate problem is, that he expects me to clean up after him! He’s sitting in front of the TV while I bring out the trash and wash the dishes!”

Pearl, eyes wide and a little startled after seeing her usually collected friend raging that much, shakes herself a little and asks: “Doesn’t Steven always offer to help you?”

“Yes, but right now he’s in his reading phase and I want to encourage him so I try to give him as much time for it as possible. I just don’t know what to do anymore…”

At that moment Sapphire came with the food. She seemed to feel the gloomy atmosphere so she decided to just leave the dishes and disappear behind the counter once again.

After a few moments of silence Pearl spoke up.

“I think it would be the best to talk to them about it.”

“Really?”

“Definitely. They need to know how you feel, otherwise you won’t solve the problem. They are your family, they will understand.”

Rose looked at Pearl in amazement. Even though the topic made her friend uncomfortable she tried to help her. She could’ve just told her to leave Greg. Maybe a small part of her had even wished for it. But Pearl fulfilled her role as a best friend perfectly and gave the best advice she possibly could. 

The two of them began to eat, but for Rose things had changed. For the first time in all those years she felt bad in Pearl’s presence.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo yeah. Time to start the drama!

Rose took Pearl’s advice to heart and gathered her s all family in the living room the same evening. She explained what bothered her and got apologies as a sign of understanding from her men. Together they set up a weekly schedule for everyone including cleaning duties and responsibility for making dinner. Steven decided to put it on the fridge so everyone could see it. He also gave his father one of his old alarm clocks. From now on Greg was responsible for waking up on time himself. Steven also volunteered to wash the dishes after dinner every day which brought his mother almost to tears with happiness.

The next day Rose immediately told Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire about the developments at home. They were happy for her and congratulated. Everything seemed to be perfect.

At least for now.

 

_ “Rose”, Pearl moaned as she interrupted the most passionate kiss to look her opposite in the eyes. Rose was looking at her intensely, gently playing with some light red strands. Pearl’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes only half open. The older couldn’t help herself but press their lips together once again. _

_ “I love you.” _

_ “I love you too.” _

 

“Mom?”

With a gasp Rose nearly jumped out of bed upon hearing her son’s voice. She turned her head and saw Steven next to her side of the bed tugging on her pyjama sleeve. Greg was asleep on her other side. Pearl was nowhere to be seen. A dream, she thought, not sure whether to feel relieved or a little bit disappointed. 

“Mom, I don’t feel too well...”

At this Rose focused her full attention on her son.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I have a stomach ache...”

“Oh, Steven! Come on, let me tuck in and make you some tea, yeah?”

Steven only nodded and waited for his mother to get up and take his hand. They went back to his room and Steven immediately crawled back into bed and snuggled into his blanket while his mother made her way into the kitchen to boil water.

She took two mugs and tae bags from the cupboard before she sighed. 

What in God’s name was that dream? She was happily married to Greg, there was so reason for her brain to conjure pictures of her and Pearl making out. Especially not with the words I love you spoken in such an intimate way. They were reserved for her husband.

The clicking of the boiler stopped her train of thought. She filled the two mugs and hurried back up to Steven who carefully sat up and took his Spiderman-mug to take a hesitant sip. Meanwhile Rose went into the bathroom to bring him a bucket in case he wouldn’t make it to the toilet. 

The woman observed her son and figured that he had probably caught a stomach bug. She decided to let him stay at home and rest for a few days. 

The zookeeper put down her empty mug on the desk and was about to go back to her bedroom when the tiny voice of her child stopped her. 

“Mum, can you sleep here with me? Please?”

Without thinking she nodded and crawled under the blanket beside her son.

 

The next day Rose was feeding the giraffes while almost falling asleep standing. Steven had woken up a dozen times to throw up and at some point she couldn’t fall asleep anymore. In the morning Greg told her that he would stay at home with Steven to watch him. 

It had taken all of Roses energy to make it to the zoo but when she arrived she couldn’t even look Pearl into the eyes. It wasn’t even noon when the attendant was about to collapse onto the straw next to the babies.

“What on earth happened to you?”

With a shrill scream and a jump Rose turned around. In front of her stood Lapis, wherever she came from. She raised one eyebrow, not used to the jumpiness of her colleague. 

“Are you alright?”

“Lapis, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry. Honestly though, what happened to you? You look awful.”

“Steven is sick and kept me up all night”, the older woman said and sat down on a tree stump. Lapis Lazuli seated herself cross-legged on the grass. 

“Wouldn’t it have been better if you stayed home then?”

“Greg did. He is taking care of Steven.”

“And who is taking care of you?”, Lapis asked with a worried frown on her face while taking in her friend.

The pink haired woman gave her a tired smile and answered:

“No one.”

“Rose?”, someone called from the entrance gate and the two zookeepers turned around. There stood Pearl with a thermos bottle and a small smile, hesitantly entering the compound. Looking unsure she maneuvered her way through the giraffes to get to her friends.

“You looked really out of it this morning so I thought you would like some hot tea.”

Rose didn’t know what to say. Was she that obvious?

Lapis stood up, put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “There is your no one”, she whispered, greeted Pearl and then left for the penguins. Rose took the bottle from the mildly scared secretary.

“Oh Pearl, you shouldn’t have! Thank you!”

If she was honest, she needed it. Needed some relaxation and even though she couldn’t look at Pearl properly without being embarrassed her presence was quite comforting.

She poured herself a cup and blew s few times before sipping it. 

“Peppermint!”

“I thought you would like that the most.”

“Yes, it’s my favorite!”  _ But you know that of course _ , Rose added mentally and smiled.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

_ Yes, Pearl. Last night I dreamt about us getting it on like wild teenagers in your bed while my husband was sleeping next to me and I’d like to know why. _

“Steven is sick and I didn’t sleep because he was throwing up every few minutes.”

Pearl’s face grew worried immediately. Even though she didn’t like that the kid was the son of her big love and another man she loved Steven with all her heart.

“Oh no, I hope he recovers soon!”

Rose only nodded and drank her tea absentmindedly while her friend spoke about herbs she researched on the internet. Roses mind wandered. There were so many questions flying around in her head that she couldn’t hear herself thinking anymore. She needed a break, some peace and quiet to sort things out. Preferably right now.

“Pearl”, she suddenly said and interrupted her smaller friend who stopped talking and looked at her questioningly. 

“I think I’m going to eat lunch by myself today.”

She could have sworn that after the initial shock Pearl looked hurt for a moment but the expression was gone in a flash so she decided to drop it. Rose returned the thermos bottle to the secretary and left without looking at her again.


End file.
